Last week, Montazeri backed the protests; a significant step, as this article notes, outlining the system of power in Iran. "As Supreme Leader, Khamenei represents the ultimate authority of the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI), above the office of the President. The only check on his near-absolute power is the Assembly of Experts, a conservative body of 86 clerics, currently headed by Rafsanjani. That body, which represents just one of the IRI's awkward hybrids of theocracy and democracy, is responsible for electing, supervising and dismissing the Supreme Leader. Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the Assembly has elected only one new Supreme Leader (Khamenei), it has barely "supervised" his affairs, and there has never been any question of dismissal, until now."

He, in turn, has come out in public to denounce the demonstrations, and asserted that the election was honest; so, his cards are on the table. For his part, with the demonstrations continuing even after Khamenei's proclamation, despite retaliation in the ways beloved of threatened authority (tear gas, water cannons, etc), Mousavi says, essentially, that he's ready to die for this. This is not, I feel, a situation that will merely dissipate because one side wishes their power to be unquestioned. But if Mousavi comes to power, will he have to live within the confines of the current theocratic democracy, or will there be a return to a more secular democracy, as in the days of Mohammad Mossadegh, prior to his British/American overthrow?

An additional perspective, from someone whose parents fled Tehran in 1979, and who have just returned from a two week visit to the city.

Since then, there's been violence in the streets of the cities, not only Tehran. One wretched, hideous example is included here, where we see one woman, Nedâ Sâlehi Âghâ Soltân, shot by a Basiji (paramilitary) on a motorbike, and dies beside her father. I haven't been able to bring myself to watch.

There would seem to be no turning back, for either side.

"A fox has been unmasked as the mystery thief of more than 100 shoes in the small western German town of Foehren, authorities said Friday." Well, there you go. Far too many pointy teeth to be trustworthy. =:)

Quite a nerdily fascinating look at the modular locomotive in Europe - projects over the past forty years, aiming towards standardising body and engine design, taking into account the amazing patchwork of rail electricity supplies in place across the continent, to say nothing of the various gauges.

Picked up Pragmatic Programmers' screencast series on iPhone programming, and their new pre-release version of their book (as a PDF, natch, though they do offer the option of getting the paper version as well) on the iPhone OS 3.0 SDK, which should make for some fun reading. Yes, really. =:D

FA recommendation for the day: Red Panda Boi, by Kwik. Quite safe, and very, very cute.

Via shatterstripes, a comic to try: Hero. Very nicely drawn, and all dialogue is delivered via tooltips - so you only see the box relating to what you're looking at, or none at all, if you'd rather contemplate the scene.

At some point, I can see becoming very tempted by a Cintiq. Does anyone have any words of advice or caution with them?

If you're in the UK, and have audio aspirations, here's a drawing to enter, from Source Distribution, offering a £10k studio setup, installation, and a day's training to a lucky winner. Entries close on July 31 2009. (The T&Cs look quite sane, though you do get added to their e-zine mailing list) The kit includes a 15" MacBook Pro, Logic Studio, a PreSonus StudioLive mixing console, a Universal Audio 710 tube preamp, a Røde NT2000, an M1, and two NT55 mikes, and more. =:9

Dinner on Saturday started off as a cheap half-can of chicken tikka masala.. before I got hold of it. =:) A chicken breast beefed it up, so to speak, accompanied by a few elderly bird's eye peppers (what kind of heat levels do you enjoy in a hot curry? Did you inherit that from your upbringing/local culture?), baby corn, thin green beans, herbes fines, Himalayan Garlic sauce, balsamic vinegar, and a dash of Madras curry powder - really quite good, I thought. ^_^ A healthy vibrance to it, but only alongside the rich body of the curry. Hardly Vindaloo strength, let alone Phaal, but pleasantly warm.

Well, this might be one platformer I'll have to get: Plushed, from Blacksmith Games. "You can help the main character (surprise: a bunny, turning into a bunny knight later) during his journey." "The game's design has a distinct visual style that merges the happy world of childhood fairytales with a somewhat macabre twist and dark humor."

arakinuk notes a New Scientist competition, marking the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on July 20/21 1969, to win a fragment of moon rock: suggest something else Neil Armstrong could or should have said, on stepping onto the moon. =:) Entries close on June 29 2009.

On the way back to the warren last week, I saw some cloud gaps that looked like Africa and a stunted India, and took the camera out to take a couple snaps, then slipping it into my pocket. A short way ahead, this forest representative showed herself, briefly:

SLARF's review of Nadi's jerboa av suggests it's rather a good piece of work, with several fun customisation options included as standard. In appearance, it's somewhat toony, along Luskwood lines.

Via ionotter, the superb realisation by the Grauniad that whilst there's a huge volume of MPs' expenses documents to wade through, there are also quite a few people who might be inclined to assist in sifting through them.. so here you go! "Some pages will be covering letters, or claim forms for office stationery. But somewhere in here is the receipt for a duck island. And who knows what else may turn up. If you find something which you think needs further attention, simply hit the button marked “investigate this!” and we’ll take a closer look. We have 457153 pages of documents, of which 349971 are unreviewed."

Hee! Someone prepared a time-lapse clip showing the front of the Palo Alto Apple Store, when they're closed - and lo, you can see the way the logo gently pulsates in the same way a MacBook's sleep indicator does when asleep, just quite a lot more slowly. ^_^

nedroidcomicswants your Cosbies. Draw Bill Cosby, and post it to that entry, which is screened, so no-one else will see it until the Great Cosby Experiment 09 is over, on June 26 2009.

Via momentrabbit, a fantastically accurate half-scale TARDIS wardrobe, for anyone within reach of Sydney. It looks as if it could be the real thing - absolutely perfect.

On the way back into the salt mine a few days ago, I saw a bun in the goats' paddock - he slipped beneath the wire mesh fence separating that from the sheep's spot, so I took a step back, and caught a few images of him framed by the thicket between us. But even then, he could clearly see me just as well as I could observe him - but didn't seem to be making any steps to depart. I wondered, then, if I might be able to get a little closer, without the "cover" in the way, and took a few more steps back up the path.. and not only had he chosen not to move, but he'd settled down, almost waiting for me. Perhaps only ten feet away from me by then, although with a wooden fence between us.. so close. A magical moment.

Thanks. ^_^ I do sometimes wish for a serious lens, but the TZ5 does a decent job, and importantly, it's small enough that it's almost always on me, either in a pocket or Hyzenthlay's bag. Would be fun to take a "real" camera for a spin hereabouts, though, and see what kind of results could be had.. 'course, if that happened, I'd probably see one rabbit in the whole day. =:)